The Velveteen Rabbit

Deep within wooded lands, buried in the mountains, the myth-like Viera lived.

Within hidden grottos, practically just cracks in the mountainsides to anyone without the secrets of the residents, were villages.

In one particular village, a young maiden neared her thirteenth year. The year in which her gender would be clear to all else in the village. The year in which younglings would be deemed a permanent member of the village, or an exiled guardian of the expansive woodlands.

She fidgeted, already knowing her fate, and once more fighting with the existential feeling of it all.

She hesitated outside the home of the Elder, reciting in her head what she had practiced for so many days. It needed to be perfect, those words would cement her future... no matter which consequences would rise to meet her, they would be everlasting.

An older woman ducked through the doorway, pushing aside the curtain. The young viera looked up at the woman. Silver white hair flowing with every move, everything about her was calculated and done without wasted effort. Perfect. Like all the Viera the child had ever known all her life.

The always daily thought slithered into the child's mind, knowing that she would look like that one day.

She shivered.

"Come in, childling." The elder spoke only a second later, though to the child it must have felt eternal.

Shrugging off the dread as best she could, the child entered and greeted the elder.

"I was told you had something important to discuss before your coming of age feast?" The elder spoke, the words breathed soothing the child as only an elder far far into her years could.

The youngling hesitated, but slowly began to speak her thoughts. The bottled words came out in a trickle at first, then in a trickle, then an unstable torrent now accompanied by tears and sobs.

When she could no longer form words, she cried, feeling for all the world that her nightmarish weight had finally been lifted.

The elder waited for her to calm, a gentle hand laying upon the child's small shoulder.

"You would not be the first to feel this way, though it is very rare to hear spoken. Your wish will be honored, but you must realize you can never go back once this has begun."

The child wiped her eyes, attempting to swallow the stone in her throat.

She nodded.

"Very well. Tomorrow, a message will be sent out to find you a mentor. Begin packing your things child, your new life awaits in the forest." She said, a gentle smile on her face.

The child hugged the elder, smiling through the tears.

The feast came with the announcement, drawing many murmurs from the viera gathered. Some commented having already guessed the news, some scoffed at breaking tradition, others merely marveled at the situation.

The next morning, the child walked out to meet the mentor, surprised.

It was a tall man.

A viera man.

"This is Coal, he will be your mentor until you have your footing. Regard him with respect, regard his teachings as holy, do you understand, child?" The viera guardswoman asked, her sharp eyes boring painful holes into the youngling, as if daring disobedience.

There was none as the child nodded, and gently took the strong, calloused hand of the viera man. Coal.

"Have ya picked a name yet, kid?" He asked, a deep voice startling the child out of deeper thought. It was so different to the soft silk of the women in the village. Yet, it was like...velvet to the youngling's ears.

"Velveteen." He finally spoke up, deep maple eyes meeting the dark gray of his mentor.

"Good to meet you, young lord Velveteen. We'll make a man of you yet." He replied.

Velveteen smiled, looking back towards the direction of the village one last time before he looked to the future.

Finally... feeling... sure of who he was.